Magnet Application Process for 2021-2022
The electronic application for the lottery will open November 1, 2020, and will close at midnight on February 15, 2021.
Students do not have to reapply for admission into the same magnet program in which they are currently enrolled.
What happens if I am offered a seat and it is not my first choice?
Be sure to select your choices in the order of preference. If you are offered a seat from the lottery, this seat offer will be the only seat offer you will receive. You may apply again once the summer waitlist application is available in May.
Procedure
- Only one application per student is permitted.
- You will need your student's 10 digit student ID number (available from your child's school).
- Students may apply for up to three magnet programs by indicating the most preferred program as your first choice. Once your application is submitted, you will not be able to change the order of your choices.
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Program enrollment is established by grade level and school capacity.
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Applying for a program does not guarantee a seat offer.
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Students must meet eligibility criteria for the selected program and be able to take magnet courses.
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All eligible applicants who meet the application deadline will be considered for available seats. If there are more eligible applicants requesting admission to a specific magnet program than the number of seats available, a computerized lottery selection process will provide an equitable opportunity for all eligible students seeking to enroll in a magnet program.
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Please advise School Choice Services if you have a change of email address and/or phone number.
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If you accept a magnet seat offer, your student is no longer eligible for any other magnet program.
Eligibility
- Students must reside in Orange County, Florida, and be eligible to apply in order to begin the magnet application process.
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Orange County Public Schools offers magnet programs for students entering grades K-10.
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Elementary applicants applying for kindergarten must be five years old on or before September 1, 2021. Parents of rising kindergarten students should select the non-OCPS option on the magnet application. No OCPS student ID is required.
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Applicants for the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet at Dr. Phillips High School and the Performing Fine Arts Magnet at University High School must meet or exceed audition requirements in order to be considered for placement.
Please note: Due to audition requirements, the Visual and Performing Art magnet at Dr. Phillips High School and the Performing Fine Arts magnet at University High School are only available as a first choice selection. You cannot select and audition for both programs. You may select a second and/or third choice program.
Lottery
- For those programs whose number of eligible applicants exceeds the number of seats available, a computerized lottery will be held on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.
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An additional lottery, if necessary, will be held for any remaining spaces in programs from the eligible applications received during the November 1, 2020, to February 15, 2021, application period.
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Prior to the selection process, the magnet programs identify the number of available seats for the program.
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If there are more applicants than there are seats available, a computerized random lottery will be used.
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For high school applicants, 60% of the available seats will be assigned by a computerized GPA ranking system and 40% of the available seats will be assigned randomly via lottery.
Required Documentation
- Middle and high school magnet program applicants who are not currently enrolled in an OCPS school, for example, your child is currently enrolled in a charter school, private school, or home school, must upload student report cards showing final grades from the previous two years, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
- The application will not continue without uploading these documents.
- You will need to upload one document for each required school year within the application. Multiple pages or pictures for one school year should be scanned and saved in one document. Only .pdf, .jpeg, .png, or .gif files may be uploaded.
Notification
- Eligible students who submit applications by the deadline of February 15, 2021, will be notified of their status via email sent to the parent email address listed on the application. This email is considered the official notice of a magnet program offer or wait pool status. Students who are offered seats in programs must register at the school during the registration dates listed in the notification email.
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Eligible students who are not offered a seat in the first lottery will be placed in a wait pool. A second lottery, if program seats become available, will be held on April 7, 2021.
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Eligible students who are not offered a seat in the first or second lottery will be sent their waitlist number via the parent email address listed on the application. If magnet program seats become available, students will be notified via email sent to the parent email address listed on the application.
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If you do not receive an email by March 5, 2021, please email [email protected], and include your student’s name, student ID number, and the program(s) for which you have applied.
Siblings
- School Choice Services may give a sibling preference to the elementary siblings of older elementary students already admitted and attending an elementary magnet school or magnet program and who will be returning to the same magnet school or magnet program in the year for which application is being made. Siblings must meet magnet program requirements.
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For purposes of this preference, siblings are brothers and sisters, step-brothers and step-sisters, or half-brothers and half-sisters living at the same address.
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To be eligible for this preference, the sibling must meet any academic or related criteria for this next level and must submit an application per the application requirements.
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Consideration for sibling preference is given to eligible applicants on a space-available basis and must be indicated on the application.
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Failure to apply by the deadline or indicate sibling preference on the application will result in denial of the sibling preference for the younger sibling.
Transportation
- Transportation is not provided for elementary magnet programs nor high school magnet programs.
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Transportation is provided to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme at the middle schools, but transportation is not provided to the other middle school programs. If a student is enrolled in a magnet program at his or her zoned school, the student will be eligible for transportation according to district policy.
Questions?
Email us at [email protected]